Cooling tower



Oct. 12 1926.

E. BURHORN COOLING TOWER Filed March 1, 1924 Fggi.

L A Q. Qe azw Ka a 2 3 223? Patented Got. 12, 1926. i

PATENT oFFicn;

mam Belmont, or nonoxnmmaw .rnznsnt.

COOLING TOWER.

Application filed March 1, 924,. Serial No. 696,259.

This invention relates to cooling towers, or structures arranged for thecooling of water by the action of natural air currents as the waterdescends in distributed con- 6 dition through the tower. An instance ofsuch a tower is my prior Patent No. 1,443,- 974 of February 6,, 1923.

With such towers it is customary to delay the gravity descent of thewater, for example W by means of a series of so-called cooling points tothe nex oling deck beneath,

Ihese deck troughs or distributing members are requ red t be properlyposlt oned at each level and securely held against d s placement. Noentirely satisfactory means a side elevation of the uppe por ion f a hasheretofor been employed for moun ing thedistri'but g members at eachdeck and the main object of this invention s to afford an improved munting f r this purpose which will be permanent. Another object is toprovide an improved structure of deck trough and means for mounting thesame which will not only be durable in use but ill be inex. .ensive inmanuf c ure an easily applied? Other and further ob%ects and ad antag sof th i v n i n l be herein fter expla n d or will b app re t t those skle i the art- To the attainm ntof such objectS n dvantages the pr seninventi n ons sts in the novel cooling tower, and the novel features ofstructure, arrang men nd et il he ein described o i lu t at d.-

In h a c mpanying drawings Fig- 1 1s ,coolin tower embodying thisinvention, pa t y br n away a the left to sh he us f lou ers, and thelouvers being om t d at he remain g ig- 2 is a P r ial plan view, r xam1e, of the t pmo t trough deck near t e end and front side thereof.

F g, 3 is a ve t al se t onteken o the line cf Fig- 2- i i Fig- "4: i ave t ca s ctio taken on th in 4 QiFig. .3. v a

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the inner clamp F g- 6 a P r p tive Viewof the body of the t ough.- F-ig- 7 is a irspect ve view o he ute clampThe invention generall comprises a number ofnovel elements ancombinations. In one aspect it consists of the series of overfl w troughmember s ppor ed n the trans- Verse beams of the frame at each deck,each trough consisting of a sheetmaterial body shaped like a'trough andan eXterior member to which the body is fitted or secured and which alsoserves to close the end of the trough. Preferably this is combined withan interior clamp member cooperating with the exterior member to holdfirmly the body of the trough, Preferably also the exterior members areformed with positioning and interlocking devices.

The illustrated structu e may be describ in detail as follows. Thecooling tower frame may consist of upright frame 1nemhere, 9., betweenwhich may extend a system of louvers 10 serving well known urposcs. Atthe level of each cooling deck t 1e frame may have omss members orstructural channels 11, constituting transverse beams supporting theoverflow troughs to be referred to, andif the span is long there may beintermediate cross channels 12. Above the topmost deck are cross framemembers 13,. The particular spacing between the decks is of noimportance and may be greater or less than that shown, and the number ofdecks ma be increased at will.

be warm a er o e c ed ay be brought up by a supply pipe 14 which extendsacross the top of the tower and is provided with a system of dischargeapertures 15'. 'There may be apertures at both sides and they maycorrespond in position with the troughs of the topmost deck beneath. Itwill be understood that atter tne water has been cooledv through itsprogres sive passageto the bottom of the tower it may there be receivedin a tank or pan in the usual wayand drawn off for use.

At each cooling .decl: are a series of troughs 1.6. These may bearranged in par allel' relation, substantially contacting, but

with spaces between for the purpose .of dis- Clmrge from deck :to deck.While the structure iOfif'flQlQ trough may beyaried it is shown ascomprising a sheet metal body 17, shown separately in Fig. 6. This ischeaply manufactured, being simply a strip of metal bent to. form thesloping sides. Inorder that a h trough m y overflow a desig a points,above the t o gbsof the k neat-h, their edges are formed with overflownotches 18. The troughs of the topmost deck are shown arranged at rightangles to the distributing pipe 14, each trough receiv ing water at bothends from the apertures 15. The troughs of the second deck are arrangedat right angles to those of the first deck and the nolchesiS of thefirst deck are located directly above the troughs beneath so as todischarge thereinto. In this way the body of water is caused to descendin the form of small overflow streams or series of drops at a. greatnumber of points in each deck. each portion of descending water passinginto a trough of the next lower deck. lVith ten troughs in each deckthere would be two hundred overflow points, which can be increased atwill.

As a means of positioning and securing each end of each trough 16 frame,the trough body 17 is supplemented with clamping means preferablycomprising both inner and outer clamp members 19 and 24, one of which isso shaped as to close the end of the trough so that it will hold water.The inner clamp member 19 is shown separately in Fig. 5. It is arrangedto fit inside the trough body and has sloping sides 20 bearing againstthe trough sides, and a vertical hole 21. A securing bolt 22 passed.through the hole 21 and a corresponding hole in the trough body andthrough the exterior clamp member, the en tirety being tighened up andsecured by nut 23 on the bolt.

The outer clamp member 24 is shown separately in Fig. 7 in its preferredform. It has sloping sides 25 corresponding with the slope of thetrough-body sides and may have overflow notches 26, in continuation ofthe series of notches 18. The outer clamp member ,24 constitutes anexterior end member and is preferably a casting, and is formed with anend wall 27, closing the end of the trough. The bottom of the casting 24has a dropped portion or seat 28 which receives the end of the troughbody 17, and is provided with a bolt hole 29 to receive the bolt alreadymentioned.

For positioning each trough against endwise movement the outer clampmember 24 is shown provided with a transverse flange 2-30 extendingdownwardly and arranged to engage the channel member 11 of the towerframe, as seen in Fig. 3. Also the several troughs may be positioned byinter-contact of their end castings or clamp members. Thus each outercasting 24 has a side flange 31 at one side and a similar flange 32 atthe opposite side but slightly higher, so that they overlap, shown inFig. 1. It is best to assemble the troughs with a slight degree oflooseness, indicated by the spacing in Fig. 1. i

lo position theseries of troughs against lateral displacement apositioning member to the tower 33 is shown at each end of eachsupporting channel memberll. This positioning member 33 abuts againstthe side flange of the extreme trough end castings, and thus holds theseries in position; Also the positioner is shown as having an uprightextension 3 and a horizontal linger 535 extendil'ig therefrom directlyabove the end casting of the trough, thus preventing the trough beingdislodged in any manner. Each positioner may be held down upon thechannel through slots 36 formed in it, engaged by bolts 23? passingthrough and secured to the channel.

The extreme troughs in each deck may be spaced somewhat away from thetower sides, as indicated in the topmost deck in Fig. 1. Obviously,however, the positioning member 33 might be moved one space further outand an additional trough added at each end. The second and third decksmay be considered as so arranged. This is indicated by the notch 26 inthe end castings of the troughs of the second deck. To receive theoverflow from these notches the third deck should contain the additionaltrough.

It will thus be seen that there has been described a cooling towerembodying the principles and attaining the advantages of the presentinvention. Since many matters of combination, arrangement, design anddetail may be variously modified without departing from the principlesinvolved it is not intended to limit the invention to such mattersexcept so far as set forth in the appended claims What is claimed is:

1. In a cooling tower a distributing deck comprising supporting framemembers-as transverse beams, and a seriesof overflow troughs supportedby such frame members, each consisting of a sheet material body shapedto constitute a trough, and an ex terior end member comprising an endwall and sides within which the trough body is titted and which closesthe trough in a water tight manner.

2. In a cooling tower a distributing deck comprising supporting framemembers as transverse beams, and a series of overflow troughs supported.by such frame members,

each consisting of a sheet material body shaped tov constitute a trough,and an exterior end member to which the trough body is fitted interiorlyand which closes the trough end, consisting of a hollow casting formedwith an interior seat for the trough body.

3. In a cooling tower a distributing deck supported by the tower frameand comprising a series of distributing troughs each consisting. of anelongated open ended sheet metal body and inner and outer end clampingmembers shaped to the contour of the body and between which the end ofthe body is clamped and one of which members is llU shaped toclose theend of the trough in a water tight manner, and means clamping togethersaid members.

4t. A cooling tower as in claim 3 and wherein the outer clamp membercloses the trough end and gives support to the trough at the end and issupported from the tower frame.

5. A cooling tower as in claim 3 and wherein the outer clamp member is ahollow casting shaped to close the trough end and the inner clamp memberis shaped to clamp the body to the outer member, with a securing meansengaging the same.

6. In a cooling tower a distributing deck supported by the tower frameand comprising aseries of distributing troughs each consisting of anelongated open ended body and inner and outer end clamping members 20between Which the end of the body is clamped and one of which members isshaped to close the end of the trough, and means clamping together saidmembers, the several outer clamp members being formed with laterallyextending projections having mutual engagement so as to positionrelatively the several members and troughs.

7. A cooling tower as in claim 6 and wherein the endmost troughs areprovided with separate positioning members attached to the tower frame.

8. In acooling tower a distributing deck comprising a series of adjacenttroughs inter-engaged at their ends, and positioning and hold-down meansfor both ends of both the first and last troughs of such series.

In testimony whereof, I have affixed my signature hereto.

EDWIN BURHORN.

